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Thinking back through my spiritual, emotional, and physical relationships with women, I realized that of my 6 girlfriends since high school and all of my other relationships with women (mother and friends), very few of their biological fathers were present in their lives. That led me to ask myself two questions:

1. What does that say about me?
2. How can I change it?

So here’s my best shot!

1. What does that say about me?

My original question was ‘What does that say about society’? But, I am a direct reflection of society, therefore, the true question is ‘What does that say about me?’ and rather than falsely accuse society, the daughterless fathers, or the fatherless daughters, I must evaluate myself.

Looking for a mom: Looking myself in the mirror, I realized that I was scarred from a turbulent 10 years with my mother. I bought into the mindset that I was looking for a mother as opposed to a spiritual partner, which was unfair to any woman I engaged with. Many of my partners resembled my mother in many ways…both good and bad. I viewed my relationships as mechanisms to fill a familiar void rather than as a mechanism to build something brand new from where I was.

Failing at father: I also realized that in SOME unhealthy cases, I arrogantly thought I was man enough to serve as my partners’ partner and father when I was mentally, emotionally, and spiritually still a boy. Though none of my partners ever called me ‘daddy’, I believed that I could fulfill any fatherly expectations they had financially, physically, and emotionally. That was false.

2. How can I change it?

Balance my friendships: Oftentimes friendships are gender heavy. Men have a crew of men and women have a crew of women. Though brother and sister circles are important, the union of those circles is even more important and I should seek to have a healthy balance of male and female energy in my life.

Mentor younger women: As a mentor, my tendency has been to mentor younger males considering that they have typically been fatherless too, but instead of gravitating toward males, I should seek opportunities to mentor younger women because they need a healthy balance of males energy as well. Positive father figures are good (but not perfect) substitutes for fatherlessness.

Commit to and prepare for fatherhood now: Not too long ago I almost became a father, but since then, I have realized that the commitment and preparation for fatherhood begin now with my own personal growth and preparation for the future. Fatherhood begins with the collective upbringing of the youth (biological and non) in our community, not when our partner gets pregnant.

5 comments

  1. Unknown Says:
  2. profound and insightful...you are truly growing in ways that so many men block themselves even seeing the potential for full spiritual beingness.

    i would suggest you also bring balance into your current female relationships in addition to mentoring younger women. :)

     
  3. I love this post Jullien!
    I would love for you to join us at Success with the Opposite Sex: GEt RElated not Dated (TM) this coming Friday Feb 1st at 8pm. You'd be such a contribution and you'd get to practice what you are out to do with men and women. Most are older than you but many are not even as wise. Hey age ain't nothing but a number.

    Bring some friends too.
    Check it out at the invitation to the meetup at http://swtos.blogspot.com

     
  4. Anonymous Says:
  5. you are hitting it everytime. your posts are exactly the right length and have the perfect entrypoint for the general public. i'm trying to get there.

     
  6. Anonymous Says:
  7. I enjoyed this post. It give me alot to think about. Thank you.

     
  8. Anonymous Says:
  9. Thank you for opening yourself up like this--very good post. I think that many people deal with issues that occured as a result of their upbring--however that may have looked to them. We as a newer generation need to be incredibly vigilant know how we live our lives matters to those who come after us.

     

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Jullien's Purpose Statement

My purpose is to help as many people as possible reach their full potential by helping them making a living doing what they love and in the process of doing so achieve my own. I want to do this through writing, speaking, and creating offline and online spaces that facilitate conversations around purpose.

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